The invention relates to portable electric power supplies.
The power supply of this invention has a plurality of applications, such as supplying power to apparatus that will destroy or otherwise prevent the possession or use of a device, weapon or materials by unauthorized personnel and providing or supplying power to a built-in pyrotechnic or other system which, upon command, will damage or destroy the contents of a safe or other container or the like. This latter application may have value in initiating self-destruction in a number of containers or safes at once, such as in a ship or a building that is in danger of being compromised. Other potential applications include mining or other remote area operations where high power is required to initiate a large number of detonators which in turn ignite a large amount of explosives within a short time frame. The power supply of this invention provides much greater safety features than other current generation systems because it uses exploding bridgewire detonators containing secondary explosives rather than easily detonated blasting caps containing primary explosives. Other safety features include that the device or apparatus may be completely shielded so as to not be affected by lighting strokes, it is not operable by electromagnetic energy or mechanical shock, etc. Another safety feature is that since the power supply is designed to be self contained, there is minimun audible output or fragmentation so that people standing close to the power supply when it is activated are not injured.
Since the power supply of this invention may use exploding bridgewire detonators, it is particularly adaptable to application where timing of current output is required in the microsecond range succh as in stage ignition in rocket systems. This power supply may be used to activate a plurality of exploding bridgewires simultaneously at distances up to 1000 feet without difficulty.
Desirable features of a power supply capable of being employed for the above applications include that the apparatus be able to operate without external power or batteries; that the apparatus be manufactured at low cost and be able to fire, or supply power to fire, or otherwise activate a plurality of loads, such as about twenty loads; that the explosives or materials used in the apparatus be self-contained; that the apparatus be portable; that the apparatus be operable from a remote location and that the apparatus be able to be stored for long periods of time, such as about ten years, in the same environment as the systems which it is protecting without the requirement of periodic maintenance.